Upworthy has got a lot of hate recently as a “clickbaity”, sensationalist website that is only out to steal content and promote itself. Is it pure evil in Internet form? Actually, it’s a wonderful addition to the World Wide Web that we should be supporting.

That’s not to say that Upworthy is perfect, but it does a lot of things right, and it deserves credit for that. Let’s argue.

I get it. The headline should hint to this. Maybe “Initiative By The UN Tries To Draw Attention To Women-led Sustainable Living Groups” would be a better title, but then would you click on it? It’s less likely. Upworthy’s original headline may be a clickbait, but it’s a clickbait that works, and once inside, the content is the same regardless.

Getting People To Share

However, clicks are only half the battle. Getting people to share their content is where Upworthy really shines because people feel passionately about the causes that Upworthy promotes and want to spread the word.

Fighting homophobia is a passionate issue for many, and this video by the Gay Women’s Channel is bound to draw tears and bring hope to those individuals. It’s something they will want to share because it pulls at their emotional strings and engages them at a personal level.

People care about these issues, and they’re going to share them. That’s important because we don’t live in a vacuum. One person watching a video that they agree with doesn’t change anything, but sharing those videos and starting discussions and challenging your friends and family and peers to think critically — that is what changes things.

Pedophilia is a hard topic to talk about, but Upworthy, as a major mainstream content curator, doesn’t shy away from it. That’s impressive. Combined with their high click rates and high share rates, Upworthy really does their part in promoting the discussion of otherwise taboo topics.

I can’t imagine many people outside of France would have otherwise heard of this short film produced by Eléonore Pourriat, but Upworthy helps the film by essentially providing free publicity.

Conclusion

Now, I know Upworthy isn’t perfect. They have annoying pop-ups that turn your whole screen orange, as shown below, and some of their headlines are so cheesy and bereft of information that it’s infuriating, but they really do more good than harm.

Plus, they provide transcripts for every video or audio clip that they post, which is really a benefit to the user. Many people, myself included, prefer reading transcripts to watching or listening to interviews.

What do you think of Upworthy? Is it the worst thing to ever strike the Internet? Are you guilty of sharing an Upworthy post here and there? Let us know in the comments.